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UNTTBD STA-Tirs PATENT @Trina OREL D. onvis AND NELSON D. ADAMS, or Nnwvonk, N. Y1

GRIP ATTACHMENT FOR CABLE RAILWAYS.

APECIFECATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 304,547, datedSeptember 2, 1884.

Application filed April 17, 1884. (No model.)

.To @ZZ whom t may concern,.-

Be it known that we, OREL D. ORvIs and NELSON B. ADAMS, citizens of theUnited States, residing in the city and county of New York, in the Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful improvement in GripAttachments for Cable Railways, of which the following is a description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The grip attachments heretofore used or devised for cable-traction havehad the gripping-surfaces of their jaws variously constructed.Sometimesthe gri pping-surfaces of both jaws have been composed of dies,or, in other words, their gripping-surfaces have been tired rela-tivelyto the jaws. Sometimes the said surfaces have both been composed ofrollers, and, again, one jaw has been fitted with a die and the otherwith rollers. Sometimes, when rollers have been used in both jaws,friction devices or brakes have been appliedto the rollers. Theseseveral kinds of grip attachments have their advantages anddisadvantages. The dies have the advantage of great holding power; butthe rollers have the advantage of taking hold gradually and Start.

ing the car without jerking.

rlhe object of this invention is to combine the best qualities of thedie-grip and the roller-grip.

In carrying out our invention we use a die in or on one jaw and rollersin the other jaw; and my invention consists in the combination, with onegripping-j aw furnished with a die or relatively-fixed gripping-surfaceand another grippingj aw furnished with gripping-rollers, ofbrake-wheels or brake-surfaces attached to the said rollers andbrake-shoes so attached to the jaw, which is furnished with the die orrelatively-fixed gripping-Surface, that by the pressure or force appliedto press the jaws toward each other and make them grasp the cable thesaid brake-shoes are also pressed upon the said brake-wheels, for thepurpose oi' checking and gradually stopping the revolution of therollers produced by their contact with the moving cable.

In order to render the action of these brakeshoes upon the brake-'wheelsor brake-Surfaces more gradual, and yet effective, our inventionconsists in the combination, with the said brake-shoes, of springsthrough which a part of the force applied to press the jaws toward eachother is transmitted to the said shoes.A

4The invention is applicable in connection 55 with the system of subwaysand cars which is the subject of our Letters Patent No. 285,657, datedSeptember 25, 1884, as well as to the system of cable-traction now inuse, in which the cars running on a surface-track are diawn 6o by acable in an underground tube or tunnel. It is also applicable toelevated railways having the cars drawn by acable above the track.

The drawings represent the method of application adapted either tooursaid system or 65 Fig. 7o

5 is a view corresponding with Fig. l, Show- 75 ing guide-wheelsprovided on the roller-jaw. A represents the upper part of the sub-wayor underground tube, in which is the slot a,

communicating with the street-surface.

B is the cable placed underground in the 8 tube or sub-way.

E is the bottom ofthe car, to which is rigidly secured therigid hangerC, which passes through the said slot a. This hangerhas con- Structedupon its lower part the frame C', in 8 5 which are secured the axles e eof the rollers c c, the said frame and rollers constituting the lowerand stationary jaw ofthe grip attachment. Ther said hanger also receiveswithin it the upright sliding plate D, to the lower part 9o of which isattached the upper or movable jaw, D', of the grip attachment, which isfitted-with a die, d, which may be of hard or soft metal, wood, or otherSuitable material, and which may be so iitted as to be convenientlyremovo5 able and renewable when worn out, the Said die constituting agripping-surface, which is Xed relatively to the jaw D. The slidingplate D works within guides b b on the hanger,

and has connected with its upper end a handroo lever, F, or othercontrivance arranged in or on the car, for the purpose of appl yingpressure to the movable jaw to grasp the cable, or of raising the saidjaw to release the cable.

Each of the rollers c c of the lower and stationary gripping-jaw, C', isfurnished with a brake-wheel or rotary brake-surface, f, which ispreferably made of a separate circular castiron plate bolted orotherwise removably attached to the roller, so that when worn out, itmay be removedV and replaced by a new one.

Over the brake-wheelsff there are attached to the upper and movablegripping-jaw, D, separate brake-shoes g L(/--one for each brakewheel.These shoes are attached to the jaw D by loose pins h 71 or otherwise,in such manner as to permit them a certain amount of independentmovement, Vand each has applied between it and the jaw a spring, i t',which tends to press it toward its respective frictionwheel. Vhen Ythejaw D is depressed to grip the cable between its die andthe rollers ofthe jaw C', the brakeshoes g g are brought into contact with thebrake-wheels f f, and the power applied to depress the said jaw C actsto produce'the grip of the jaws upon the eable, and at the same time toapply the brakeshoes to the brake-wheels, for the purpose of checkingandY gradually stopping the revolution of the rollers, and therebyproducing gradually, yet surely and as promptly as desirable, a positivegripping action of the rollers on the cable, and the harder the grip isput on the tighter will the brake-slices be applied. The relationbetween the friction produced on the brake-wheels and thegripping-pressure applied to the jaw D will depend on the strength ofthesprings z', and will have to be determined by practice. \Vithout thesesprings itwould be hardly practicable to obtain aproper relation betweenthe friction and pressure above mentioned, as with a rigid attachment ofthe brake-shoes to the said jaw, if the brake-wheels and brake-shoesshould wear more than the gripping-surfaces, or the reverse, either theshoes would fail to suiiciently check the rotation of the rollersorwould check the said rotation without applying a proper degree ofgripping pressure. lt may be here mentioned that the rollers may be inthe movable jaw and the die in the iix'ed jaw of the grip,or that boththe jaw containing the rollers and that furnished with the die might bemovable toward and from each other; but in any case the brake-wheelswill be attached to gripping-rollers, and the brake-shoes will beattached to that jaw which contains the die.

In order that, while the gripping-jaws are open, the cable may beretained between them ready to be gripped for drawing the car whendesired, and that while the grip is out of operation itsgripping-rollers c @and their axles may be relieved from wear, weprovide in the lower jaw, C, as shown in Fig. 5, grooved guide-wheels 7ck, one at each end of the jaw, such wheels being either larger than therollersv c c, or having their axles so arranged that their upper partsare so much higher than the upper parts of c c that the cable may besupported in their grooves out of contact with the rollers c c, as shownin Fig. 5.

We do not claim, broadly, a grip attach ment having rollers in one jawand a die in another, nor do we claim the application of friction-brakedevices to the gripping-rollers of a grip attachment.

Vhat we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The combination,'in a grip attachment for cable railways, of one jawcontaining I gripping rollers, which alone constitute itsgripping-surfaces, an opposite jaw having only a gripping-die orrelatively-fixed gripping surface, brake-wheels attached to said Igripping-rollers, and brake-shoes attached to the jaw having therelatively-fixed grippingsurface, substantially as herein described.

2. rPhe combination of the grippingjaw having its gripping-surfacecomposed entirely of rollers, the gripping-j aw having only agripping-die or relatively-iixed gripping-surface, brake-wheels attachedto said gripping-rollers, brake-shoes attached to the jaw having thegripping-die, and springs applied between the latter jaw and thebrakeshoes, substantially as herein described.

OREL l). ORVIS. NELSON l. ADAMS.

XVi tnesses:

FRnDK HAYNEs, EMIL SCHWARTZ.

